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Gravity and Gesture

Paintings by Mike Howard

December 11, 2025 - April 5, 2026

INTRODUCTION

Mike Howard's Gravity and Gesture presents a bold and expressive body of work in which movement, meaning, and material experimentation intertwine. His gestural surfaces carry both emotional and physical weight—“gravity” referring not only to the seriousness of his subjects but also to the downward pull of paint that becomes part of the imagery itself. A selection of Howard's works are painted on huge, unstretched canvases that hang loosely in space, inviting viewers to step close, feel enveloped, and almost walk into the imagery itself.
Symbolism runs throughout the exhibition. Floating fast-food imagery appears alongside references to the deaths of important artists; a depiction of the Lorraine Motel reflects on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; portraits of people significant to the artist share space with leaping fish, shipwrecks, and other visual metaphors that explore memory, loss, humor, and cultural history.
A small selection of banners reflects Howard's occasional collaboration with his wife, Mary Howard, an acclaimed scenic designer known for her work with leading photographers.
Gravity and Gesture invites viewers into a space where symbolism, spontaneity, scale, and storytelling meet—revealing an artist deeply attuned to both the weight and the restless energy of painting.

ARTIST BIO

Mike Howard grew up in Phenix City, Alabama before moving to New York City in the early 1970s.
After serving as a machine gunner and NSA in the U.S. Marine Corps, Howard attended the University of Georgia. During his studies he was accepted into the coveted Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York City. He received his Master of Fine Arts from New York's Rutgers University in 1974.

Howard's works have been exhibited throughout the United States, from Hurtsboro, Alabama to New York City. Notable exhibitions include The Whitney Museum, P.S. 1, the High Museum in Atlanta and recently in the Rubell Family Collection Museum in Miami, Florida, where a large portion of his collection resides permanently with the Rubell Museum. He has been reviewed in The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, New Yorker and Artforum.
He splits his time among Brooklyn, New York, Hurtsboro, Alabama and Columbus, Georgia.

We gratefully acknowledge artist Mike Howard for his generous gift of a significant collection of paintings to the �ǿմ�ý Permanent Art Collection.

Previous Artists-In-Residence exhibition

Running in the Mind: Recent Works by Jennifer McCohnell

Apothecary of Joy: Works by Douglas Pierre Baulos